Warning to vegans: Diet of meat, eggs and milk is healthier than plant-based foods, review finds

Vegan diets are 'less healthy' than including meat, eggs and milk in your meals, a major review has found. Meat, eggs and milk provide key nutrients such as high-quality protein, fatty acids, iron, calcium, zinc, selenium and vitamin B12, the report found To assess the benefits of risks of consuming animal products, the FAO looked at more than 500 scientific papers and 250 policy documents. 'Terrestrial animal source foods provide energy and many essential nutrients, such as protein, fatty acids and several vitamins and minerals that are less common in other food types,' FAO deputy director-general Maria Helena Semedo and the body's chief economist Maximo Torero Cullen wrote in a foreword to the report. Evidence suggests that in adults, yoghurt and milk consumption reduces the risk of all-cause death, high blood pressure, stroke, type 2 diabetes, colorectal and breast cancer and osteoporosis, the report states. Professor Gunter Kuhnle, a nutrition and food scientist at the University of Reading, told MailOnline: 'One aspect are nutrient deficiencies, especially iron, zinc and vitamin B12 - meat is a good source for them.